Connecticut-Made Documentary About Addicts In Long-Term Recovery

Eleven years ago, Greg Williams was taught the accepted terminology for describing himself: "My name is Greg Williams, and I am a drug addict."

Williams doesn't like that anymore. He prefers "My name is Greg Williams, and I am a person in long-term recovery."

"It's an entirely different feeling when I tell someone that. I characterize the recovery from my illness from a place of pride, which I am, I'm proud of my recovery today," Williams, of Danbury, said. "My recovery is the best thing about me. Everything in my life in the last 11 years has been amazing. My recovery made that possible."

Williams believes passionately in the respectability of addicts in recovery, and has made a documentary to discuss the issue. "The Anonymous People" will be shown Saturday, April 13, at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford.

Williams, 29, became addicted to drugs while a student at Newtown High School. After taming his addiction, he became one of 23 million Americans in long-term recovery. Millions more addicts in this country are still actively using drugs or alcohol.

Williams' documentary tackles a lot of questions, but they all boil down to public perceptions of substance abuse, by the addicts and by others.

"Why is it that we don't treat this issue as a health issue? ... It's all about how people feel about people like me," Williams said in a phone interview. "Even the word addict is used as a derogatory word, like other deragotary words like junkie or crackhead. They dehumanize people. ... The way we have demonized people who use alcohol or other drugs doesn't match up with the science, which says that one out of 10 people who drink will become alcoholics."

With his film, Williams wants to encourage addicts in recovery to speak out about their addiction, and not be intimidated by the culture of anonymity instilled in addicts by Alcoholics Anonymous.

"Anonymity is important for people to feel safe, to go to a secretive group where they don't need to be identified so there are no job implications and discrimination. At the same time, many people don't know that there are people in the history of AA who have publicly stood up and talked about their recovery," he said.

This belief in openness is picking up steam today, he added, and its success is essential if changes ever will be made in drug-related public policy. "There is a big movement with the idea of going public with your recovery," he said. "A lot of people in anonymous support groups don't know this movement has begun and who's doing it."

The movie features many well-known people who are in long-term recovery, including author William White, Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner, actress Kristen Johnston, former NBA player Chris Herren, Subway executive Don Fertman and former U.S. Congressmen Patrick Kennedy and Jim Ramstad. It also features archive footage of famous Americans who conquered their addictions, including actors Dick Van Dyke and Mercedes McCambridge and Marty Mann, the first woman to join AA.

Williams believes the war on drugs begun in the 1980s shoved a fledgling openness movement back into the closet, as it shone a glaring light on addicts run afoul of the law. He wants to help rekindle the respect for openness, and encourage anonymous addicts to not be ashamed to talk openly.

The movement's strongest evidence in favor of long-term recovery, Williams said, are those 23 million people, adding that scientific research backs up the classification of addiction as a public-health issue rather than a criminal one.

"I could introduce myself by saying 'the chemical makeup of my body reacts to alcohol and drugs differently than other people'," he said. "People can argue with that if they want, but they're just swimming upstream with science if they do. ... It's the truth, but it hasn't moved the needle with public policy."

"THE ANONYMOUS PEOPLE" will be shown Saturday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the Belding Theater of the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Ave. in Hartford. Admission is $10 and proceeds benefit the Connecticut Community for Addiction and Recovery, which has offices in Hartford, Bridgeport and Windham. Greg Williams, the movie's director, will lead a discussion after the screening. Tickets and details: http://www.bushnell.org.